An Atlas of the Oaklimd Neighborhood of Pittsburgh 1977 OAKLAND
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I 'I c'CJ An Atlas of the Oaklimd Neighborhood of Pittsburgh 1977 OAKLAND UNIVERSITY CEN TER fOR UR~'.ll RE SEARCH 1209-D, Cathedral of learning UN IVERSITY (lr f" i r:-s·. ~.IRG H University of Pittsburgh 249 Noa:., C".".IG STR EET Pittlburgh, Pennsylvania 15260 PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA 15260 Phone: (412) 624-3465 PITTSBURGH NEIGHBORHOOD ATLAS GOVERNING BOARD ROGER AHLBAANOT,JA. STAFF Unlv.rlltv 01 Pltuburgh, School of Socl.1 Work Ch,lrp.rlon JAMES VALLAS Wendell D. Jordan (East Liberty-Lemington-Lincoln) Shady.lde Margaret K. Charny (Squirrel Hill) VLc.Ch,lrp.rlon BARBARA KELLY Julia Whitener (Mexican War Streets) Petry-Hilltop Ml110fred Russell (Homestead, Pa.) 5"" ..t" ... TEAAY WOODCOCK Gerald S. Oswalt (Schenley Heights) Squirrel HIli Katherine Knorr (East Liberty) RICHARD ARMSTEAD John Zingaro (Shadyside) Hili Dlurlct Dan Baskin JOSEPH BORKOWSKI La""arenclt\lllia Vicky Leap DANIEL CHAPPELL Howard Williams Hili OIUrict Ronald Madzy MARY COYNE Watt End Tony Gary JIM CUNNINGHAM Mary Shea ShadVtlde MARY LOU DANIEL W"t End SUPPORTIVE INSTITUTIONS JESE OEL GRE HILI Dllnlcl WILLIAM P. GALLAGHER Pittsburgh Neighborhood Alliance G,"nfl.ld Center for Urban Research of the Univ. of Pgh. MARY HALL Squirrel Hili School of Social Work of the Univ. of Pgh. ROSE JEWELL Architect Workshop ShadVllda City Council of the City of Pgh. GABOR KISH Elliott Allegheny County Department of Elections ROBERT "BLUE" MARTIN ACTION-Housing. Inc. Hazel""QOd THOMAS MURPHY Department of City Planning of the City of Pgh. Perrv HIIlIOP Southwestern Penna. Regional Planning Commission EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WENOELL D. JORDAN ACTION-Vista (Volunteers in Service to America) AGENCIES Valley View Presbyterian Church Actlon·HOutlng, Inc. U.S. Bureau of Ihe Centuo Ce.ne<gI .. Mallon Unl~e .. ltY FUNDING SOURCES Ch.lttlan Auocla'" CitY Council CommunitY Action Pltnburgh Alcoa Foundation CountY PI enning Dep .. ,men, Halllh & Welfl.e Allegheny Conference on Community Development Plennlng Auoclatlon Natlonll Inilitutl of NII\llhbor· Howard Heinz Endowment hood Studl" Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation Unl~I ..ItV of Pltllburgh School of Soclll Work Koppers Company South",,"ta.n Penntvh,.nll Re<glonl' Pllnnlng Commlulon Richard King Mellon Foundation SI.t. Department of CommunitY AHalr. City Council of the City of Pittsburgh United WlY The Pittsburgh Foundation Urban and Communltv AHII .. · Unl~.r"tY of Pln'bYrgh Henry Oliver Rea Charitable Trust CONSULTANTS Sarah Scaife Foundation, Inc. Unl"... IIV of Plnllbu.gh C.nter for Urbton Rat_rch Weld Tooling Company CItY Planning Dep.rtmenl University of Pittsburgh (In Kind) 02 SCHMIDT· Geography OePI .. Unl"enltV of Pluobur!rh JOHN YORIO - Hl\llhland Park Initiated by the PITTSBURGH NEIGHBORHOOD ALLIANCE INTRODUCTION The Pittsburgb Neighborhood. Al.liance was fonned in 1969 by a. IDJmber of neighborhood organizations that were concerned with improving the city's neigh borhoods and their relations with city government. The members of' the Alliance recognized that in order to negotiate effectively with city government about such mBJor concerns as public service needs, capital improvements and transpor tation, it was necessary to obtain accurate, up-to-date Inf'ormatlon about the neighborhoods. Unfortunately, this In:f'ormatlon was not available. To remedy this situation, the Alliance developed its Pittsburgh Neigh borhood Atlas project. First, the boundaries ot the city's neighborhoods had to be determined. The Pittsburgh Neighborhood Atlas asked. people attending ccmmun1ty meetings to name and describe the boundaries of the neighborhoods in which they lived. This int"ormatlon was alBo provided by an Atlas-initiated survey. Responses fran every votin8 district of the city were a.nal.yzed to a.ssure citizen involvement at the neighborhood level. Seventy-eight neighborhoods were thus identified, each made up of one or more whole voting districts in order to comply with provisions in Pittsburgh's hane rule charter relating to the election ot ccmnunity advisory boards. The Atlas then gathered a body of useful and up-to-date Intor.mation tor every neighborhood. It is the beginning of a neighborhood information system that more closely reflects neighborhood boundaries as defined by residents in stead of by public officials. In the past, statistics about sections of the city have been based on intor.mation published for relatively large areas such 8.S census tra.cts. For the atlas, much of the material describi.n@; neighborhood characteristics came fran :figures canpiled for smaller areas: voting districts or census blocks. As a result, detailed in:t'onnation is now available for neigh borhoods whose boundaries differ substantial.ly f'rcm census tract boundaries. The infor.mation in this atlas provides an insight into current neighbor hood conditions and the direction in which the neighborhood is m0vi...D8. The best indicators showing the health of the neighborhood are provided by citizen satis taction with the neighborhood, and changes in residential. real estate transaction prices. Comparison of these statistic8 to those for the entire city provide a buis to begin understanding issues of neighborhood atabUity. In the years to cane, sa add1 tional data are gathered for each of these indicators, trends will becane more obvious. It 1s important to recognize that nei8bborhood change is 8. ccmplex pro cess and that one 1nd1cator by itself ID.8Y not be use:f'Ul.. Neighborhoods may be heal.tby regardless of their level of !nccme, and therefore incane-related sta tistics may not be usef'ul. guides by themselves. Neighborhoods III'WJt be viewed over time 1n t~ of relative changes compared to the city as a whole, and ~ anaJ..ys18 of neighborhood conditions must t'ocus upon all ot the data in order 'tD provide a canprehens1ve understanding. To learn about specifiC sections of the neighborhood, tigures by indi vidual. voting district or census tract 1n8¥ be obtained. Additional. 1nt'ormat10n on the neighborhood or the 1nt~tion lyatem is available through the Center for Urban Research ot the University ot' Pittsburgh, which baa made an outstanding contribution to the developnent ot' this atlu. -1- NEIGHBORHOOD DESCRIPTION Oakland is approximately 2.2 miles east of downtown. It is estimated to be 863.0 acres in size, containing 2.5% of the city's land and 4.6% of its 1974 population. The voting districts in the neighborhood are 43 to #20, Ward 4' #9, Ward 5; and #5, Ward 8. SeE' Appendix for a listing of the dghborhood's census tracts.) In Borne neighborhoods a significant proportion of the residents identified a section of the neighborhood by another name, therefore this section is called a sub-neighborhood. The sub-neighborhoods in Oakland are Terrace Village, South Oakland, Schenley Farms and Bel1efield. .. •• *:: , ~."I.#J • .. '.: " , \. '".. , , -2- NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORY OAKLAND Oakland received its name from the farm of one of the original settlers, William Eichbaum. whose property held many oak trees. By the early 1800's, the area that is now Oakland was owned by a few businessmen aod landowners, including Neville B. Craig, editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette from 1829 to 1841, who had a fann named !'Bellefield". In 1836, an English immi grant, J ames Chadwick, sold nine acres to William Stewart. William Robinson, Jr., mayor of Allegheny, acquired these nine acres by sheriff's sale in 1840 and, that same year, sold it to Eichbaurn. This became Eichbaum's farm. Oakland developed rapidly following the Great Fire of 1845 in Downtown. with people moving out to what was then suburban territory. In 1850, the glass manufacturer, Dithridge, bought Neville Craig's "Bellefield" and developed housing there. By 1860, passenger rail service had encouraged residential growth as far as Bates and North Bellefield Streets, and commercial development along Fifth Avenue. Oakland Township incorporated in 1866 and was annexed to the City of Pittsburgh in 1868. In 1889, Mary Croghan Schenley gave the city 300 acres in Oakland for a park. Officials bought another 100 acres from her for Schenley Park. Schenley later gave another gift, land for the Schenley Plaza. There, Andrew Carnegie built a library, museum and concert hall complex which opened in 1895. Businessman Frank Nicola built the Schenley Hotel on Forbes Street at the turn of the century. Nicola also bought land around Bellefield between Fifth and Centre Avenues and de veloped the Schenley Farms in 1905, spending $1.5 million on streets. utilities, and landscaping. Oakland was well on its way to becoming the Civic Center. Development in a variety of fields - education, entertainment, organization, medicine - came in rapid succession. Carnegie Institute of Technology opened in 1905. The Western University of Pennsylvania relocated from Allegheny to Oakland in 1907. becoming the University of Pittsburgh. In 1909, Forbes Field was built. From 1908 to 1920, Soldiers and Sailors' Memorial Hall, Syria Mosque. Masonic Temple and Bureau of Mines all opened; numerous private clubs moved from downtown. Magee Hospital was the first of the many hospitals in the neighborhood. with the establishment of Children's, Montefiore, Presbyterian, Eye and Ear, and the Fslk Clinic following throughout the years. Work began on the Cathedral of Learning in 1925. at that time, the tallest educational building in the world. Oakland is perhaps the most ethnically mixed of all Pittsburgh neigh borhoods. Italians, Blacks. Jews. Syrians and Poles have long been permanent resi dents. University students - rentors and commuters - reflect the diversity of back ground evident in Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania. Approximately 88 foreign countries are represented in the student body of the University of Pittsburgh. - , -3- OAKIAND SUMMARY STATISTICS Neighborhood Pittsburgh Population (1974) 21,926 479,276 • Change (1970-1974) -14• -Sl. X Black population (1970) 16'l. 20'l. Housing units (1974) 6,026 166,625 l. Vacant 77. 6% '%. Owner-occupied housing units (1974) 31. 54. Average sales price of owner-occupied dwellings (1975) $29,990 $23,516 4 Residential real estate transactions with mortgages provided by financial institutions (1975) 34.